Politics & News

Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

YES!!!! Vice President Kamala Harris Says She Supports Eliminating Taxes on Tips

Vice President Harris at a Las Vegas rally on Saturday night suggested she would support ending taxes on tipping — a policy initiative that has become popular with former President Trump on the campaign trail.

The idea — exempting tip income from federal income and payroll taxes — has become a common policy line item for Trump as a way of courting working-class voters.

With Harris adopting the same message, it appears they each want to earn support from service workers.

“It is my promise to everyone here when I am president, we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said on Saturday night.

Harris was endorsed by Culinary Union 226 on Friday. Many members were in attendance for her rally in Las Vegas. Culinary Union is part of a group that represents 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno.

Some have questioned how the proposal would work, and that it could carry a hefty price tag. In June, a budget watchdog estimated that implementing the practice could mean a decrease of up to $250 billion in federal revenues over a decade.

Changes to taxation on tipped income would require Congressional approval. Lawmakers will take a look at the country’s tax policy next year after Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill expires.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4822462-harris-says-she-supports-eliminating-taxes-on-tips/

------------------------------

"a decrease of up to $250 billion in federal revenues over a decade."

$25 billion/yr. is pocket change for a government that took in $4.44 TRILLION in 2023.

END TAXES ON TIPS NOW!

Employers would then be REQUIRED to pay AT LEAST the MINIMUM WAGE.

Top | Newest First | Oldest First

Gusman · 61-69, M

I have never understood how states can get away with not paying minimum wage.
I have never worked out why tips can be taxed
I have never worked out why lottery wins are taxed

There are serious deficiencies in the US as pertaining to fairness.
Seems big business rules over everything.

View 11 more replies »

Handfull1 · 61-69, F

@Bill1372 why are you complaining? You hear very few Democrats doing that. You’re free to pick who you choose!

LeopoldBloom · M

@Bill1372 If a candidate's policy is popular, the other candidate will support it. Trump is doing the same thing, moderating his position on abortion because a total ban is unpopular. If Harris is a copycat, then so is he.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@LeopoldBloom [@Bill137]

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

- President Harry Truman

LeopoldBloom · M

Agreed - tip credit needs to end. The $2.13 minimum wage hasn't gone up since the early 1990s. It's literally been unchanged for a generation.

Monday40 · 51-55, F

Well when I order delivery there is a tip already on the bill so there is no chance of keeping tip without reporting that. They use their own car and have to buy gas. These are hard working people that never get a break. So here we have a situation where servers and delivery drivers are losing money and nothing ever balances out.There is no point in taking on a second job.🤔

View 1 more replies »

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Monday40

They should be classified as EMPLOYEES, not "independent contractors."

Bill1372 · 51-55, M

@Monday40 I always keep cash on me to tip. I’ve charged food and used cash as a tip.

LeopoldBloom · M

@beckyromero That's the next step - make gig workers employees. I believe they already are in California.

Bill1372 · 51-55, M

Too bad she doesn’t have an original idea.. she’s had almost 4 years to address issues she claims need fixing. When is she planning on visiting the actual border and not 100 miles north of it?

View 2 more replies »

Bill1372 · 51-55, M

@beckyromero

This comment is hidden. Show Comment

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Bill1372

Coattails and discrediting Trump will go a long way in getting things done with Congress.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

I’d rather eliminate tips altogether and pay tipped employees more. Tips are a holdover from Jim Crow era where white business owners refused to pay black employees because they received tips.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@trollslayer

I'd rather raise the minimum wage, eliminate tax on tips and let the customer decide if they want to tip or not with THEIR money.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@beckyromero agreed. I wonder what the rationale behind the switch back in ‘86 was.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@trollslayer

The Reagan tax cuts.

Republicans had to claw back some money for the government that was given as tax breaks to the wealthy. (Top rate was reduced from around 50% to 28%)

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

I like this idea, with a proviso. Limit it to incomes under $150 K. Thats where the people who will benefit most will be..😷

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@whowasthatmaskedman

If it can pass Congress even without that provision, I'd still favor it.

RoguishEyes

Supporting is a much lower threshhold on the committment ladder than promising. And we all know how politicians keep their campaign promises.

View 5 more replies »

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

@RoguishEyes

I said nothing about Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. My comment had to do with politicians and promises.

Yet you said it in response to something that was said about Kamala Harris. What else was I supposed to think, other than your comment was specifically critical of her?

You have now been exposed as a rabid, hate filled fanatic incapable of objectivity or rational thought.

RoguishEyes

@LordShadowfire

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

@RoguishEyes Yes, I'm aware that you're projecting.

NotMy1stRodeo · 56-60, M

Tip income is income, it should be included as such. If overall income is low, little or no taxes will be due.

View 4 more replies »

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@NotMy1stRodeo

You're correct. Thanks.

1982. Reagan was president. Enough Blue Dog Democrats joined with GOP House members to pass it. The Senate then passed the conference report, 52-47. (Lawton Chiles, D-FL, did not vote)

Then-Sen. Joe Biden voted "nay."

NotMy1stRodeo · 56-60, M

@beckyromero Is there a point regarding the history? Tips were the majority of income for a large number of people. They were subjected to treatment as taxable income as a result so those people were paying an appropriate amount of taxes. The tax due is still based on overall income, deductions, etc and low income earners with predominantly tip income pay the same tax rate as regular wage earners in that bracket.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@NotMy1stRodeo

FYI

https://similarworlds.com/politics/5077524-FYI-When-Legislation-Was-Enacted-in-1982-Giving-the-IRS

DeWayfarer · 61-69, M

This is a start. Yet some states are still getting away with not paying minimum wage in restaurants.

I don't understand how. 😡

View 2 more replies »

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

@DeWayfarer I didn't say it was right, or fair, just that this is how they justify it. It's horrible.

LeopoldBloom · M

@DeWayfarer It's legal under federal law.

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

@LeopoldBloom Unfortunately.

Wizardry · 46-50, M

Hope she gets in

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

This is a bit of a crazy policy position, but I appreciate the way it neutralizes what Insurrectionist-Cry-Baby-trump is proposing to do. I suspect most tip-paying jobs don't pay enough (even with tips) to affect taxes one way or the other even if the workers accurately and honestly report their tips, so this is just performative policy position; it won't have any real impact on the average worker's take-home pay.

While I don't favour arbitrarily raising everyone's pay through mandates, I think a more sensible approach would be for each business to establish a surcharge that goes to the worker's income.

22Michelle · 61-69, T

People should be paid for the job they do. Nobody should need tips to live on. Long term the USA, and other countries, should ban tipping.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@22Michelle

Long term the USA, and other countries, should ban tipping.

In the U.S., we have laws that allow people to mostly do what they want with their own money (so long as it does not involve criminal activity).

I prefer to look at a tip as a gift, which it essential was before the tax law changed in 1986 making such "gifts" income.

When I leave a waitress a $5 tip why should that be anymore taxable than giving a $5 bill to a homeless person on the street?

Under current law, the waitress must pay tax on the tip (and in many states the restaurant owner is allowed to pay her a sub-minimum wage). The homeless receipient does NOT have to pay tax on the $5.

I believe NEITHER should have to pay tax on that $5.

22Michelle · 61-69, T

@beckyromero My point is not so much aboug the giving of a tip, more that nobody should have to rely on tips to earn a decent living.

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

Yeah, less for social security - it's good for the nation.

TheShanachie · 61-69, M

@Roundandroundwego small

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Roundandroundwego

Yeah, less for social security - it's good for the nation.

Many employers with tipped-workers (mostly in the restaurant industry) are allowed (depending on the state) to pay SUB-minimum wages to their employees. That allows those employers to pay LESS into Social Security.

It also forces many of those employees to rely on public assistance programs, something the TAXPAYER pays.

With apologies to President George W. Bush for using his line,

"It's not the government's money. It's the people's money!"

Let's stop taxing tips NOW!

pdockal · 56-60, M

Minimum wage is just that .... legal minimum ...
So what employer doesn't pay that ?

Why tax social security ?
Why tax disability ?
Why tax volunteer fireman pentions ?
Why should seniors pay school tax ?
Why should childless pay school tax ?

The list goes on ... why choose service workers and exempt part of their income ... how is that fair to ALL citizens ????

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@pdockal

As Harry Truman said,

"Republicans are all for a minimum wage. The lower the minimum the more they're for it."

pdockal · 56-60, M

@beckyromero

Nobody says employers can't pay more to employees who deserve more
Last i checked i choose my career and bounced until i found something that had great benefits & wages ... i didn't settle for the first job
My problem is the speeding congress does that keeps taking more & more & giving me less & less
I see your Ignoring my other questions

HumanEarth · 56-60, F

They are all lying Trump, and Kamala the Uganda giant (which I thought was dead when he died in the ring in wrestling ring in 2005)

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

@HumanEarth Okay, you're one of those.

HumanEarth · 56-60, F

The government going to kill 4 billion of the population aways. Why not speed up it up

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

@HumanEarth

BohemianBabe · M

Based.

Gibbon · 70-79, M

She should just change her name to Flipper

View 3 more replies »

This comment is hidden. Show Comment

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Gibbon

The VP pick doesn't mean sh-t in the outcome of an election.

I don't have the time to catalog all of TRUMP's flip-flops.

But I guess we can start with his support of Hillary in the U.S. Senate (and later for her White House bid in 2008).

FEC Records - Donald Trump campaign contributions to "Friends of Hillary"

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

------------------------------

FEC Records - Donald Trump campaign contributions to "Hillary Clinton for President"

------------------------------

------------------------------

Donnie Jr. gave, too!

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

Gibbon · 70-79, M

@beckyromero

TheShanachie · 61-69, M

Some Easy solutions, seize $300 Billion from Musk, raise taxes on all billionaires and require them to pay their tax bill.

Jimmy2016 · 61-69, M

🤔.......How about Ending Federal taxes on all employee wages...........

SatanBurger · 36-40, FVIP

I'm down 😊

LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

Good. So now Trump's one thing he had going for him, he doesn't anymore.

This message was deleted by its author.

View 6 more replies »

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

@MarmeeMarch I don't want a socialist solution to a problem that won't be fixed and will explode the USA deficit while claiming conservative values. Do you?

This message was deleted by its author.

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

@MarmeeMarch It's potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue under the Insurrectionist-Cry-Baby-trump vaporware of a plan that will continue his trend of deficit spending because all he fantasizes is that the loss of revenue will be made up with "growth."

Shoveling billions of dollars into Ukraine keeps the world safe for democracy. Only a socialist would think that's not an investment worth making while giving handouts to rich people.

Add a comment...